Twine



(Specimens.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

B. P. CLARK.

TWINE.

No. 416,052. v Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

N. PETERS PhcwLilhdgraphah Washingfian. D. C.

(Specimens.)

B P; CLA I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

TWINE. Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

Wfinemaem 11w emhrc N. PETERi Phato-Llmognpher. \Vilhingtm. D, C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN PRESTON CLARK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TWINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,052, dated November26, 1889.

Application filed S tember 21, 1888. Serial No. 286,024. (Specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN PRESTON CLARK, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTwine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a twine of practicallyuniform thickness and strength throughout its length, and yetsufficiently soft to insure that it shall not kink, and

that, owing to the compressibility of its fibers,

a knot tied therein shall not slip or break in the tying operation, andformed in such manner also that the liability to strip or bunch up andclog in passing through the various guides and eyes of thebinding-machine shall be reduced to a minimum, the necessary flexibilitybeing considered, and especially adapted for use in the moderngrain-binders employing twine as the binding material,

where these qualities, owing to exigencies of the machine and to theexpansion of the sheaf after being bound and to the rough handling towhich it is subjected, are of special importance; and to this end Ipropose to form such a twine of a yarn of jute or equivalent soft andflexible material and asliver of manila or sisal or like stiff and hardmaterial twisted therewith, so that the two shall have practically thesame spiral, neither forming a core for the other and both being exposedin regular spirals on the surface.

Whenever a twine is formed from ath read of jute or of waste or othermaterial as a core, wrapped with manila, sisal, or other similarmaterial, it has been necessary, in order to have the covering materialremain together when in a single strand, to wrap it so snugly about thecore as to form a cord too hard for grain-binding and similar purposes,and even then the entire twine would kink or cockle, and the surfacewrapping strip or bunch up and clbg, and, moreover, the center cordforming the core, which would be substantially straight,wo uld be thefirst to receive any strain, while the spiral covering would tend toyield and unwind whenever the other was stretched or broken; but if,instead of soft flexible material, like jute, the core or one of thestrands were formed of a yarn of hard stiff material-as, for instance,manila with a sisal wrapping or sisal with a manila wrappingthere hasbeen such a tendency to kink or cockle or to strip and bunch up as tototally unfit the twine for an tomaticgrainbinding purposes;but I havefound that when a soft yarn of jute or like material is used and thesame spiral is given to both the jutethread and the manila or sisalsliver in the spinning operation, and the jute yarn ex posed 011 thesurface throughout its spirals, the strain or tension will be equallydist-rib uted through them, while the tendency to kink or cockle will bereduced to an inappreciable' minimum, the thickness will be prac ticallyuniform throughout the entire length, and all the beneficialfeatures ofboth jute and manila will be retained.

Jute twine alone, it is Well known, is weak and liable to rot, and indamp Weather becomes soft, while even its normal condition, after anexposure of a few months, is soft and flexible with a tendency to cling.Manila and sisal, on the other hand, are tenacious and hard and welladapted to meet all conditions of climate and weather, but are stiffmachine. Besides this, in the spinning operation small loose orbrokenfibers are combed off in passing along the feed-chain, over which thesliver is drawn with a greater speed than the chain itself moves untilthey accumulate in a little lump, which is fed into the nipper andthrough that into the twister, where it is embodied in the strand oftwine, forming a nodule or enlargement, destroying its evenness andunfitting it for passing through the tension devices, eyes, and otherparts of a binder; but when twisted with a yarn of jute and theattendant get down to rethread the JOC or equivalent material,-as hereinproposed,

the manila or sisal sinks its lumps, knots, and enlargements into theyarn at either side, so that the two become uniform and the clingingquality of the jute is utilized or taken up by the manila or sisal andserves to unite the two more tenaciously together, while the firmness ofthe manila or sisal neutralizes the undue softness of the jute and thesoftness or flexibility of the jute neutralizes the tendency of theharder material to kink, and, furthermore, the jute yarn, having itssurface exposed in regular spirals and at regular intervals throughoutthe whole length of the twine, serves to cut the stripping tendency ofthe manila sliver and to limit it to substantially the space betweeneach jute spiral, practically an inch or less, and so prevent combingand bunching up in the binder itself, while its soft exposed surfacepermits the twine to pass through the guides all the more readily andwith far less friction.

Still a further advantage is this: The knotter and ejector in agrain-binder, as well as the holder itself, all act with a sudden andviolent energy, tending to break or sever the twine wherever a sharpbend is formed. Such bends are formed at the knotter immediatelyfollowing its initial operating movement, but particularly in the knot.itself where the ends of the bands surrounding thegavel pass into theembracing-loop. Experience has shown that the twine is particularlyliable to snap or be severed at this point before the sheaf has passedfrom the machine, and in this case the gavel is spilled upon the groundto be gathered up and tied by the shocker, and the machine has to bestopped and rethreaded, and in doing this a second gavel is generallywasted, because it is necessary, for the purpose of guiding the cordinto the holder, that the latter should be moved, and this can onlybedone by starting the whole binding mechanism for a second or falsebinding operation. When a shopboy or salesman has bound a bundle, hetwists the twine around his fingers in such manner that one strand shallcross the other at a sharp angle, and with a sudden jerk he severs thelatter. The harder the twine, strength being equal, the more readily itwill cut. The fact that the twine in a binder severs so frequently atthe angle formed with the knot in the sharp impulsive movement of the machine is due'to the same principle, and the employment of the yarn ofjute or other soft material, combined with. the sliver of hard manila,effectively modifies this tendency, since it forms a cushion, into whichthe harder manila fibers sink and flatten out when the jerk comes uponthem, so that no practical knife-edge is permitted to come against theopposing strain, and therefore the liability to break is materiallylessened.

Although it is possible that other twinespinning machinery may beemployed with beneficial results in the process of making my improvedtwine, provided the jute yarn 'of manila or sisal.

and the manila sliver are twisted together as if two independentstrands, but without one serving as a core for the 0ther,I have foundthe most efficacious results to ensue from the use of a machine of theJohn Good type, and therefore for the purpose of illustration haverepresented it-in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aside elevation of said machine from the feed-mouth for the sliver to theflier. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of this machine, showing a portion ofthe feed-chainand the nipper; Fig. 3, a side elevation of Fig. 2, partlyin section; and Fig. 4, a perspective view of the twine itself, one endof which has the manila sliver removed to show the position of the juteyarn in the process of manufacture, and the other end being completed.

A represents the frame of the machine, and B the feed-chain, which drawsthe manila or sisal sliver C through the mouth or funnel G, and carriesit onward with its fibers spread out fiatwise and parallel, side byside, toward the nipper-trumpet D and the nipper D, which latter, bymeans of a pivoted arm E, belt-shifter F, driving-pulley G, change-speedpulleys l, and intermediate auxiliary mechanism, control the speed withwhich the chain feeds the sliver to the nipper according to the quantityof material that the latter receives, all as usual on this type ofmachine.

On a standard H, rising from the frame of the machine, or in anyothersuitable bearing above the feed-chain, is mounted a bobbin 1, whichcarries a supply of jute yarn K,that runs from said bobbin down into thenippers, and is there brought alongside of the sliver The bobbin shouldbe elevated a sufficient distance above the feedchains to insure thatthe jute shall run direct to the nippers and not be prematurely broughtin contact with the sliver while yet on the chain. The strand of juteyarn, as above stated, should be guided into the trumpet alongside of orside by side with the'sliver of manila or sisal, the yarn and, sliverpassing through the trumpet without the former being entirely covered bythe latter, the yarn and the sliver thus forming, aslit were, separatestrands or separate portions of the completed twine, havingsubstantially the same twist, and both appearing uniformly on thesurface. The jute yarn itself should be appreciably soft-that is,it'should not be spun to such an extent as to become hard and wiry. Ihave found a range of from seventy to eighty turns to the yard mostdesirable, and in practice use about seventy-two, spun in the samedirection as the ultimate twist given to the twine. As a general rule,it may be stated that the yarn should be spun of such a number of twistsand of such consequent softness as to have a practically-exactcorrelation to the'stiff sliver, so as to twist with it in uniform ornearly uniform spirals, and impart and gain all the advantages of flexi-IIO bility, freedom from kinkiness due thereto, and of strength due tothe frictional and binding contact of fibers and strandscaused by thetwist, both that originally in the yarn and that imparted by the flierwhen spinning sliver and yarn into twine.

From the nipper the thread and the sliver pass as independent strands tothe flier L and winding-bobbin L, by which they are twisted together inthe direction of the twist of the jute into a single twine or cord inwhich, while the manila, owing "to its spread and previously unspuncondition, partly covers and protects the jute and shields it from eX-ternal contact, yet each strandthat of jute and that of manila-hassubstantially the same twist or spiral, and therefore receives strainsalike. There is a limit, however, to the number of turns that can begiven twine for use in automatic grain-binders in a measured length. Ifthe twine is wholly of hard material, like manila or sisal, a very fewturns in a foot will cause it to kink, so that it cannot possibly passthrough the tension devices or the eye of the needle, or be acted uponsuccessfully by the knotter. Twine composed of soft jute yarn and amanila or sisal sliver combats this tendency while gaining increasedstrength up to a higher number of turns a foot, and this number is mostadvantageous from about thirteen to fifteen in the foot. Amaterially-increased number or materially-greater original twist in theyarn will disturb these conditions and cause the finished twine to kink,so as to be unfit for use in grain-binders. The twine thus formed willhave, as intimated in the preamble, uniform strength, since the strainwill come on the jute and the manila, share and share alike, and will beresisted by their uniform spirals. It will have the toughness andsmoothness of manila or sisal, freedom from undue kinki ness, and withala certain softness of character necessary, as before intimated, to theforming of a durable knot, while the jute strand, being practicallyenveloped by the manila or sisal strand, will be sufficiently protectedfrom contact with external objects and shielded from the effects ofdampness, or this effect will be taken up and neutralized by the manilaor sisal itself.

The twine herein differs essentially from double-ply twines formed oftwo strands or threads twisted together, whether of manila or sisal andjute or hemp, or other materials, in that/such twines are composed ofseparate and distinct strands or yarns twist-ed upon each other andlying spirally in the twine, while in this invention, wherein the twineis formed of a sliver of manila or sisal and a yarn of j ute, or somerelatively soft and yielding material, the sliver conforms itself to andpartially envelops the yarn, yet allowing it to appear uniformly on thesurface of the completed twine.

The advantages resulting from combination of the jute yarn and themanila sliver do not exist in double-ply twines formed of similarstrands or yarns of the same or different material twisted spirallytogether.

\Vhile I have referred in the foregoing description to jute yarn as mypresent preference, I desire to be understood that any soft yarn havinga similar correlation with jute yarn, spun as stated, to the manila,sisal, or other fiber, is intended to be embraced as an equivalent in myinvention, and

Therefore I claim as myinvention 1. A twine designed especially for usein binding grain, consisting of a yarn of a soft flexible materialhaving substantially the twist described, and a sliver of fibers of astiff hard material, twisted together so that the two shall havepractically the same spiral, neither forming a core for the other, butboth appearing in regular spirals on the surface.

2. A twine designed especially for use in binding grain, consisting of ayarn of jute having practically the twist described and a sliver ofmanila, twisted together so that the two shall have substantially thesame spiral, neither forming a core for the other, but both appearing inregular spirals on the surface.

As a new article of manufacture, twine for binding grain, consisting ofa strand of jute yarn of about the twist described, combined with asliver of manila orsisal, both uniformly twisted together to about theextent stated, so as to have practically the same spiral.

B. PRESTON CLARK.

Witnesses:

THOMAS H. ARMSTRONG, THOMAS H. WAKEFIELD.

